The REED TITMICE (Panurus) are distinguishable by their slender body, long and much graduated tail, moderate-sized wings, in which the fourth and fifth quills exceed the rest in length, and their short, much-curved beak. The plumage is comparatively smooth and compact, but varies according to the age or sex of the bird.
THE BEARDED TITMOUSE.
The BEARDED TITMOUSE (Panurus biarmicus) is light cinnamon brown on the upper part of the body, greyish blue on the crown of the head, and light rose-red on the under side; the throat is whitish, the region of the tail black; the brown wings are decorated with a white stripe, and edged with a line of black. The chin of the male is covered with a beard-like tuft of soft black feathers, about nine inches long. The plumage of the female is paler; the back is of a light shade, darkly spotted; the lower tail-covers are pale rust-red, and the very slightly indicated beard white. The young are almost black upon the back. The length of this species is from six inches to six and a half, and its breadth from seven inches to seven and a half; the wing measures two inches and a half, and the tail three inches and a quarter.
BEARDED AND PENDULINE TITS.
The Bearded Titmouse is met with in all the north-eastern parts of Europe. In Great Britain it is but rarely seen; it is, however, comparatively numerous in Holland, South Hungary, Greece, and a portion of Asia Minor. Everywhere it seeks the reed-covered banks of rivers, and lives in pairs or in small families.
Dr. Leach was induced to separate this very interesting bird from the genus Parus in consequence of its differing in several minor characters from the other species of that genus, particularly in the situation it affects as a place of abode and nidification, constructing a nest on or near the ground in wet and marshy places. "Its food," continues Mr. Gould, "is also very different, consisting of the seeds of reeds, with aquatic insects and minute-shelled snails, for the trituration of which it is provided with a strong muscular gizzard. It is more particularly abundant in the low and marshy districts of Holland, France, and Germany. Its disposition is timid, and its manners shy and retired, dwelling in situations both local and difficult of access, a circumstance which, until lately, has prevented naturalists from giving any details, especially of its peculiar habits." We are indebted to Mr. Hoy for the best account of this bird yet published, as given in the "Magazine of Natural History," (Vol. III., page 328), from which the following is extracted:—
"The borders," says. Mr. Hoy, "of the large pieces of water in Norfolk, called 'broads,' particularly Hickling and Horsey Broads, are the favourite places of resort of these birds; indeed, it is met with in that neighbourhood wherever there are reeds in any quantity, with fenny land adjoining. During the autumn and winter they are found dispersed generally in small parties throughout the whole length of the Suffolk coast, wherever there are large tracts of reeds. I have found them numerous in the breeding season on the skirts of Whittlesea, near Huntingdonshire, and they are not uncommon in the fenny districts of Lincolnshire; whether they are to be met with further north I have no means of ascertaining, but they do not appear to have been noticed north of the Humber. They begin building in the end of April. The nest is composed on the outside of the dead leaves of the reed and sedge, intermixed with a few pieces of grass, and invariably lined with the top of the reed, somewhat in the manner of the nest of the Reed Wren (S. arundinacea), but not so compact in the interior. It is generally placed in a tuft of coarse grass or rushes, near the ground, on the margin of the dykes in the fen; sometimes fixed among the reeds that are broken down, but never suspended between the stems. The eggs vary in number from four to six, rarely seven; they are pure white, sprinkled all over with small purplish red spots, intermixed with a few small faint lines and markings of the same colour—size about the same as that of the Greater Tit, but much more rounded and shorter. Their food during winter is principally the seed of the reeds, and so intent are they in searching for it, that I have taken them with a bird-lime twig attached to the end of a fishing-rod. When alarmed by any sudden noise, or the passing of a hawk, they utter their shrill musical notes, and conceal themselves among the thick bottom of the reeds, but soon resume their station, climbing the upright stems with the greatest facility. Their manners in feeding approach near to those of the Long-tailed Tit; they often hang with the head downwards, and occasionally assume the most beautiful attitudes. Their food is not entirely reed-seed, for they sometimes eat insects and their larvæ, and the very young shelled snails of different kinds, which are numerous in the bottom of the reedlings. I have been enabled to watch their motions whilst in search of insects, having, when there is a little wind stirring, been often within a few feet of them, quite unnoticed among the thick reeds. Were it not for their note betraying them, they would be seldom seen. The young, until their autumnal moult, vary in plumage from the old birds; a stripe of blackish feathers extends from the hind part of the neck to the rump. It has been said that the males and females keep separate during the winter, but I have always observed them in company; they appear to keep in families until the pairing time, in the manner of the Long-tailed Tit, differing in this respect, that you will occasionally find them congregated in large flocks, more particularly during the month of October, when they are migrating from their breeding-places." "To the above interesting account," says Mr. Gould, "we may add that they are to be met with occasionally on the banks of the Thames; from the thick reed-beds of Erith, in Kent, throughout the course of the river to Oxford; but their visits are by no means regular, or to be calculated on with accuracy."